WASHINGTON — A White House official yesterday told Reuters that high global food prices will likely be a persistent problem for the next two to three years, as the world replenishes depleted stores of grains and soybeans. "Our estimate is that those prices will continue to stay high, not escalate at the same rate as they did last year. Inventories have been depleted and it will take awhile to rebuild those inventories," Edward Lazear, chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, told the London-based news agency. Keith Hennessey, director of the National Economic Council, then argued that the renewable fuels mandate—which is diverting millions of bushels of corn into ethanol production and away from meat and poultry production—is not responsible for rising food prices.

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